Perfect Meat Spaghetti Sauce

I recently wrote an article about tips for making the perfect spaghetti sauce with ground beef. I used to make this kind of sauce all the time (I cook mostly Italian dishes) and my sauce is sooooo good. While this kind of sauce is pretty easy to make, there are a few tips that will make it even more luscious.

photo credit: mrjoro

• If you want a low-fat sauce, pre-cook the ground beef and drain it. But realize that by draining the fat, you are removing most of the flavor. It’s true! Ground beef is pretty bland without the savory fat. You can drain MOST of the fat as a nice compromise.
• Use ground chuck, not ground sirloin or ground round. Ground chuck has a bit more fat in it, giving the beef more flavor.
• If you want to leave the fat in the sauce but not have TOO MUCH fat, use a lean beef and do not pre-cook the meat. Instead, shred the ground beef and put it in the tomato sauce and let it cook. Yep, it’s fattier and has more calories, but it’s SOOOOOO good.
• Use only fresh ingredients: fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh garlic, etc.
• Use Roma (plum) tomatoes, not those big round beefsteak tomatoes. Roma are the best tomatoes for sauces, as they are thick and savory. The big beefsteak tomatoes are great for slices on hamburgers, but they are too soupy and flavorless for sauce.
• Pre-cook white onions before you add them to the sauce. When you pre-cook the onions, the heating process caramelizes the onions, drawing out their sweetness and adding flavor.
• Cook the sauce on LOW heat and stir constantly.
• Don’t serve the sauce right away. Allow the sauce to sit in the refrigerator for a day or two, to ripen. This is true for all tomato recipes (especially Manhattan Clam Chowder). For some reason, allowing the sauce to mature for a day or two allows the ingredients to mellow and blend together. Yum.
• Add little touches to the sauce, like freshly grated Parmesan cheese or a drop of Worchestershire sauce. I also add green peppers for color and a little panache.

Italians make the finest foods, don’t you think?! I love Italian cooking and I learned some really good tips growing up in an Italian home. I’m not Italian, though (and I couldn’t even pass as one, not even with some good costume kingdom coupons and a slick disguise). But I can cook like one!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make some sauce! Manja! Manja!

Squeaky Zucchini Stew

My daughter sometimes cooks for us around here. Sunday was a HUGE work day, and I couldn’t grill for the helpers. So my daughter stepped in and made a fabulous meal. Everyone absolutely loves it; if we entered a contest, say, for a week at one of those gorgeous Outer Banks homes, I’d bet we’d win! I thought I’d share the recipe here.

Squeaky Zucchini Stew

1 pound ground sausage, cooked and drained of fat
2 small zucchini, sliced
2 small yellow squash, sliced
1 medium white onion, diced
1-2 cans spaghetti sauce (depending on taste)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Saute the sausage, zucchini, yellow squash, and onion until the vegetables are tender. Add the sauce; warm up. Throw some cheese on the top until melted. Serve as it is, or with some pasta.

It’s so good! The flavors really blend well. The veggies are slightly crunchy, too, so it’s just terrific stuff.